Cushioned toilet seat



Aug. 18, 1959 A. J. PAsTL CUSHIONED TOILET SEAT Filed Feb. s, 195e INVENTOR. f4/fred J'Fasl fluid tight or sanitary cover.

United States Patent CUSHIONED TOILET SEAT Alfred J. Pasti, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 3, 1956, Serial No. 563,225

7 Claims. (Cl. 4-237) This invention relates to the construction of a seat for toilets and the like and it relates more particularly to a cushioned seat for use with toilet bowls to increase the comfort and its operation in use.

Others have, in the past, suggested the use of cushioned toilet seats and many designs have been proposed for the construction and assembly thereof. To the present, however, none have found ready acceptance in the iield and, -to the best of my knowledge, a suitable and acceptable cushioned toilet seat is not available commercially on the market.

It is believed that one of the principal deficiencies in the cushioned toilet seats heretofore developed resides in the failure to provide a seat which retains its softness and resiliency when the cushioned member is enclosed in a It has been found that the moisture and vapor impermeable cover necessarily employed in combination with the cushioning member on top of the toilet seat causes the air in pores of the cushioning member to become entrapped to the extent that deiinition of the cushion in response to the applied load is resisted by the inability of the air to escape. As a result, the desired cushioning effect is not available and one must meet with a hard and dead surface as distinguished from the soft and resilient cushioning effect which would ordinarily have been expected.

It is an object of this invention to produce a cushioned toilet seat of the type described which is soft and resilient in use and which obviates many of the deficiencies and objections encountered in previous constructions.

Another object is to provide a cushioned toilet seat of the type described which can be manufactured in a simple and eicient manner of relatively low cost and available material to provide a combination which is safe and sanitary, which is soft and resilient, which can be easily and quickly replaced, which returns to normal position almost immediately after use and which provides means for the escape and release of air from the cushioning member and for additional displacement of the cushioning member without destroying the continuity of the impervious cover or the cushioning member.

These and other advantages of this invention Will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is s-hown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a top view with parts broken away for illustration of the arrangement of parts in a cushioned toilet seat embodying the features of this invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the toilet seat shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a bottom view of the bracket member secured to the bottom side of the toilet seat in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 5 of Figure 4 with the bracket attached to the bottom side of the toilet seat; and

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawing, 10 indicates the base member of a toilet seat of conventional design having a bracket 12 extending rearwardly from the back end thereof and hingedly mounting the base on the arms 14 rigid with the toilet bowl for enabling movement of the seat from vraised to lowered positions of adjustment.. The toilet seat can be constructed of conventional materials such as of wood, plastics, laminates or the like rigid material 4with the usual flattened bottom side 16 and with a top side which, instead of being raised and rounded for use, is formed with a attened surface 18 having a plurality of interconnected grooves 20 and 22 extending lengthwise and crosswise respectively in the surface thereof.

When the base is molded of a plastic material, the grooves 20 and 22 can be formed in the surface portion to extend outwardly and inwardly to the edges of the base but it will be preferred to mold the grooves to extend a small distance short of the edges to protect the edges against the displacement of air into and out of the grooves all around. When the grooves are cut into the surface of the base member, as when the base is formed of wood, plywood, laminates and the like rigid material, thenit would be best, from the standpoint of economy in manufacture, to form the grooves to extend continuously from one edge to the other; otherwise, the grooves may be routed out from the surface portion of the Wood or the like material.

The cushioning member 24 which may be formed of foam rubber, foamed plastics, rubberized fibers and even a resilient pack of fibrous material such as kapok, down, glass fibers or the like, is cut to lit substantially continuously over the grooved surface of the base 10 with the bottom side 26 formed substantially flat to conform with the grooved surface of the base while the lateral edges 28 and 30 are formed to extend curvilinearly upwardly to a relatively flat domed top side 32.. The cushioning member is enclosed within a shell 34 of a relatively smooth, fluid impervious and sanitary material which may be formed of the same material as the cushion to comprise an integral part thereof but is formed preferably of another material, such as a rubberized sheets, a plastic lilm, a coated fabric, leather or the like which is soft and farm to the feel and which is capable of being washed and cleaned for purposes of sanitation and appearance, and which is impervious to moisture for preventing fluids from soaking into the packaging or cushioning material. In the preferred modification, the cover may be formed to extend continuously about the cushion completely to enclose the cushioning member in sealing relation. In the alternative, the cover sheet may extend over the top of the cushioning member and down the sides into engagement with the base for attachment, as by conventional means, to the side walls thereof, or to the bottom side thereof.

The base is provided with one or more openings 36 extending therethrough, such for example as the two openings illustrated for communicating the grooves with passages 38 extending rearwardly along the bottom side of the base for the travel of air therethrough. ln the modilication illustrated, each of the passages 38 on the underside of the base is defined by means of a metal plate 40 having offset portion 42 extending inwardly from one edge for a distance short of the other so that when the plate is secured, as by means of screws 44 to the underside of the base with the Ioffset portion extending downwardly and with the inner end portion of the offset in alignment with the openings 36, a continuous means for communicating the grooves Z8 and 22 with the outside atmosphere rearwardly of the seat is provided. It will be understood that the functions which will hereinafter be described can be made available without the use of the oiset plate but its use enables the air ow to be directed rearwardly away from the user and it also enables means to be employed for controlling the amount of air movementror .the purication thereof or the use of the air stream to either sanitize the air or to perfume the air flowing into and out of the described unit.

It is desirable also to provide additional grooves such as grooves 46 and 48 which pass through the openings 36 and extend angularly with respect to the other grooves 20 `and 22 so as to provide for full communication between the grooves in the base.

The grooves in the top side of the base in surface contact with the underside of the cushioning member 24 are capable of two separate functions in the combination described. When the cushioning member is formed of a rubberized or resinous treated fibrous mat or a foamed plastic or foamed rubber having communicating or interconnected pores, the air displaced from the cushioning member during deformation under load is capable of flow freely into the grooves and along the grooves to the openings 36 for passage through the channels out into the room. Reversed flow of the air back through the passage through the openings and the grooves into the cushioning member is possible when the load is released for return of the cushioning member to normal dimension. If such means were not provided for the release of air, the latter would be entrapped within the cushioning member to provide a ballooning effect which would be undesirable or else to resist deformation under load.

As a separate function, the grooves provide recesses in communication with the underside of the cushioning member to enable displacement of portions of the cushioning member under load with the result that greater give is available in the cushioning member in use to provide a softer and more resilient feel even when air ow is not available as previously described. The air normally present in the grooves is capable of displacement from the grooves upon entrance of the cushioning material with the result that use can be made of a cushioning material which is free of air pockets or pores and which is formed of a solid substance as distinguished from a foamed product, as long as the material is soft enough to enable displacement into the grooves under load and resilient enough to return to use of the grooves in normal position when the load is released.

For proper support of the cushioning member, it is undesirable to provide grooves which are either too narrow or too wide and it is also undesirable to provide insucient support for the cushioning member. best use, the grooves may be formed of widths of 1A to 1/2 inch with a similar spacing between the grooves but use can be made of grooves which are as narrow as 56 inch in width and use may be made of grooves which are only 1/16 inch apart. The depth of the grooves is unimportant so long as sujicient strength remains in the seat to prevent breakage in use.

Instead of forming the grooves in the desired spaced relation in a crosswise and lengthwise arrangement, the

For

grooves may be formed in other checkerboard patterns in the surfaces of the base such as along diagonals and the like with the grooves intersecting one with the other to provide a continuous connection, even though along a circuitous path.

It will be understood that changesmay be made in the details of construction, arrangement and operation Without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as dened in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A cushioned toilet seat comprising a base formed of rigid material with separate groups of grooves formed in the top side thereof with one group of grooves extending in one direction in parallel spaced apart relation and with another group of grooves extending in parallel spaced apart relation in other direction for intersecting the grooves of the iirst group, and openings through the base in communication with one or more of said grooves, a cushioning member of soft and resilient material dimensioned to correspond with the base and resting on the grooved surface of the base, and a fluid impervious cover extending in sealing relation over the outer surfaces of the cushioning member.

2. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 in which the grooves are dimensioned to have a width of 1/16 to 1/2 inch and in which the grooves are 3*/16 to 1/2 inch apart.

3. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 in which the grooves are dimensioned to have a width of 1A to 1/2 inch and in which the grooves are spaced 1A to 1/2 inch apart.

4. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 which includes passages on the underside of the base in communication with said openings and extending rearwardly therefrom for the passage of air into and out of the grooves.

5. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 in which the cover comprises an impervious lm integral with the cushioning member and formed of the same material.

6. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 in which the cover comprises a separate member completely enclosing the cushioning member.

7. A cushioned toilet seat as claimed in claim 1 which the cover extends downwardly beyond the sides of the cushioning member and which includes means for securing the edges of said cover to the base portion beyond the cushioning member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,025,712 Bickett Dec. 31, 1935 2,461,062 Kane Feb. 8, 1949 2,750,606 Freedlander et al. June 19, 1956 2,771,612 Samuels Nov. 27, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS i 944,018 France Oct. 18, 1948 

